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Photos of the Day 05/27

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Steel workers from the nearby ArcelorMittal plant take part in a demonstration in Marseille, France, on Thursday. Strikes across France delayed flights, closed schools, and frustrated commuters as workers protested government plans to raise the retirement age past 60, one of the lowest even in Europe. President Nicolas Sarkozy says retiring so young is now untenable given growing life spans, but unions see his planned reforms to France's over-stretched pension system as yet another blow to Europe's social model. Claude Paris/AP

A video grab, taken from a BP live video feed, shows activity during the 'top kill' procedure to stop the flow of oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil well. BP is continuing the operation to try to plug its leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well but has no immediate update to give on whether it has succeeded, a BP spokesman said on Thursday. Reuters

A man rests on his bicycle at a usually busy market on the outskirts of the Tivoli Gardens neighborhood in Kingston, Jamaica, on Thursday. Rodrigo Abd/AP

President Obama makes opening remarks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday. Susan Walsh/AP

Frogs cross the Egnatia highway in northern Greece, on Thursday. For a second day, near the town of Langadas, millions of frogs migrated from a nearby lake probably looking for food. Greek officials say the colony of frogs forced the closure of a key northern highway for two hours after three drivers skidded off the road while trying to dodge the frogs. No human injuries were reported. Nikolas Giakoumidis/AP

An aerial view shows the river Oder, near Ratzdorf, Germany, on Wednesday. German officials remained confident Thursday that reinforced dikes would hold as flooding of the Oder River along the border with Poland approached its peak. Flooding from southwestern Poland has been advancing downstream to the border region. Brandenburg state's interior minister, Rainer Speer, said flood defenses – already reinforced after flooding in 1997 – had been bolstered by thousands of sandbags. Berthold Stadler/AP

Due to a power outage, a shopkeeper serves his customers by battery-powered lights in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, on Thursday. In the shadows of Dubai's illuminated skyscrapers, residents of the neighboring emirate of Sharjah are looking for refuge from scorching Gulf heat as the oil-rich nation struggles through another summer of power failures. Farhad Berahman/AP

Lucifer, a male Asiatic lion, holds a football painted in the colors of the English soccer team in his mouth at London's Zoo in Regents Park on Thursday. The zoo gave the media an opportunity to film the lions playing with a ball filled with meat and painted in the colors of England, who are due to compete in the World Cup in South Africa. Alastair Grant/AP

Usain Bolt of Jamaica reacts after winning the men's 300 meters race at the IAAF World Challenge Zlata Tretra (Golden Spike) in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on Thursday. David W Cerny/Reuters

Real estate mogul Donald Trump (r.) stands next to a bagpiper during a media event on the sand dunes of the Menie estate, the site for Trump's proposed golf resort, near Aberdeen, Scotland, on Thursday. David Moir/Reuters

Actress Meryl Streep (l.) and retired US Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter speak during Harvard University's commencement exercises in Cambridge, Mass., on Thursday. The two were among those presented with honorary degrees. Josh Reynolds/AP

Spectators open their umbrellas when a downpour stops play at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris on Thursday. Regis Duvignau/Reuters

Takechiyo Yamanaka, who has been waiting in line since Wednesday to purchase an Apple iPad, sits on a chair in front of Apple Ginza store in Tokyo on Thursday. The iPad will be released in Japan on May 28. Toru Hanai/Retuers

Britain's general elections used to be straightforward: a predominantly two-horse race between Labour or Conservative governments, left vs. right, red against blue. But as electioneering gets under way for May 7 polls, it's clear the vote has implications for British politics that extend well beyond whoever comes out on top.